1. Field
The invention is in the field of stirrups for saddles.
2. State of the Art
Stirrups extend from a saddle to provide support for the feet of a rider mounted in the saddle. The stirrup height in relation to the saddle is adjusted to fit a particular rider with the adjustment depending upon the length of the rider's legs. Stirrups are usually mounted on a saddle by looped stirrup straps mounted to opposite sides of the saddle and hanging down from the saddle to mount the stirrups. Stirrups are normally adjusted to fit a rider by unbuckling the stirrup strap, tightening or loosening the stirrup strap to raise or lower the stirrup to the desired stirrup height, and then rebuckling the strap to support the stirrup at the desired height. This adjustment usually requires the rider to dismount the animal and remain on the ground adjacent the animal and saddle mounted on the animal to be able to unbuckle and rebuckle the stirrup strap. If available, a person standing on the ground can adjust the stirrup height for a rider with the rider mounted in the saddle. Since stirrup adjustment is not easily done, and is particularly difficult to do when mounted in the saddle, once adjusted, it is preferred to maintain the set adjustment until another rider uses the saddle.
In addition to the main function of a stirrup to support a rider mounted in the saddle during riding, stirrups are also used by the rider in mounting the animal to be ridden. To do this, the rider, when standing on the ground next to the animal to be ridden, raises a foot and places the foot in the stirrup, and, using the support provided by the stirrup, raises himself or herself to a position substantially standing on the one foot in the stirrup, swings the other foot over the saddle, and sits in the saddle. However, with the stirrups adjusted to the proper height for riding, often the stirrups are not easily reached by a rider's foot from the ground. This is particularly true for a short rider with a full size animal such as a horse, or for taller riders with a tall animal, such as a tall horse. The rider cannot reach the stirrup from the ground with his or her foot to be able to mount the animal. Older riders who cannot stretch and reach as far with their feet as when younger have a similar problem reaching their leg up into the stirrup. In such instances, it is necessary to have another person available to boost the rider up to a height where the rider can place a foot into the stirrup, or provide a support for a rider to stand on to be able to reach the stirrup.
As indicated, the stirrup is usually mounted to the saddle by a looped stirrup strap. This strap is usually leather, has a width, and is arranged to hang down from the saddle with the width of the strap parallel to the saddle and to the animal. The stirrup is usually mounted in the strap loop by a shaft parallel with the foot support which causes the stirrup to hang with the foot support also parallel to the animal, i.e., with the foot receiving opening facing outwardly from the animal. This requires the rider, once the horse is mounted, to turn or twist the stirrup into riding position thereby twisting the leather stirrup strap so that the stirrup foot receiving opening faces toward the rear of the animal, not outwardly from the animal as is its normal tendency. A common practice with saddles is to form a permanent twist into the leather stirrup straps which tend to position the stirrups in riding position. However, this normally only twists the strap part of the way necessary to orient the stirrup in riding position so continuous rider twisting is still necessary to hold the stirrup in riding position. This forced twisting of the leather strap can cause ankle and knee strain for the rider. Older riders particularly may have a difficult time keeping the stirrup in a comfortable riding position without pain from the knee or ankle strain. These two problems, the difficulty in mounting the animal and the difficulty in keeping the stirrups in riding orientation, can combine to make riding difficult, uncomfortable, and sometimes impossible for older individuals.
Several devices exist to remedy one or the other of these two problems but not to simultaneously address both problems. A stirrup extender device currently being sold by E-Z Up Stirrup Extender Co., Inc. of Las Vegas, Nev. under the Trademark E-Z UP STIRRUP EXTENDER has a housing which is positioned in and secured to the stirrup strap loop of a saddle with which the device is to be used and has a stirrup attachment bar extending from the housing for attaching the stirrup through a metal bracket attached to the bar which accepts the standard stirrup mounting shaft. A release button on the extender device allows the stirrup attachment bar to drop down a preset distance, such as about three inches, from a retracted position where the stirrup is at riding height to an extended position which lowers the stirrup. This allows most riders to be able to reach a stirrup that the rider otherwise has trouble reaching. The rider mounts the animal with the stirrup in extended position, and when in the saddle, pulls the stirrup and attached attachment bar upwardly with his or her toe to lock the stirrup in the retracted position which is the normally adjusted riding position for that rider. The rider can dismount with the stirrup in the retracted position or can easily reach down from the saddle to ankle position of a foot to push the release button to release the stirrup to the extended position for dismount. The housing is formed of two housing sections with one housing section having guide grooves formed therein through which arms extending from the attachment bar are passed in assembling the device. An upper connecting bar joins the upper ends of the arms through an open area in the housing so the upper connecting bar stops downward travel of the stirrup attachment bar when the upper connecting bar reaches the lower end of the open area. In assembling the device, the arms extending from the stirrup attachment bar are threaded through the guide grooves, and after threading the arms through the guide grooves, the upper attachment bar is secured to the upper ends of the arms to extend through the open area between the arms. The housing sections are then secured together. This requires expensive assembly work to thread the arms through the slots, to then attach the arm joining piece, and then assemble the housing. It should also be noted that the addition of the attachment bar below the stirrup strap and the metal stirrup mounting bracket below the attachment bar locate the actual stirrup attachment below the bottom of the stirrup strap rather than at the bottom of the stirrup strap as is normally the case. Thus, the stirrup strap must be adjusted at a higher setting to provide the same riding stirrup height than with the usual stirrup attached directly to the stirrup strap.
Other stirrup extending devices are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,026,633, 6,173,558, 5,809,754, 5,661,957, and 5,347,797.
A rotatable stirrup device which allows a stirrup to be coupled to a stirrup strap and allows the stirrup to freely rotate in relation to the stirrup strap and saddle between a mounting orientation and riding orientation is currently being sold by Legsaver Stirrup Company of Roosevelt, Utah under the trademark LEGSAVER. A bracket receives the stirrup shaft and is rotatably mounted by a pivot pin to a generally C shaped mounting arm that holds a mounting shaft that is mounted in the stirrup strap loop in the manner that the stirrup shaft normally is. This device is designed to mount to the stirrup strap, which is adjusted to hold the device and the attached stirrup at a desired riding height. No height extension is provided for. Again, the addition of the attachment bracket to the stirrup shaft, the provision of the pivot pin which rotatably secures the attachment bracket to the mounting arm assembly, with washers around the pivot pin between the attachment bracket and the mounting arm assembly, result in the stirrup attachment being located below the bottom of the stirrup strap rather than at the bottom of the stirrup strap as is normally the case. Thus, the stirrup strap must be adjusted at a higher setting to provide the same riding stirrup height than with the usual stirrup attached directly to the stirrup strap.
Other stirrup mounting devices that allow rotation of the stirrup in relation to the stirrup strap are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 169,209, 321,984, 396,179, 608,605, 1,174,712, 2,532,082, 5,598,687, and 6,220,004.